I’m a single mom with a full-time job and an almost full-time hobby playing with Sybil and the rest of the ducks on this site. I’m lucky if I can string together one whole hour of my own with no interruptions. What this means is I’m VERY picky about where I spend my personal time. V-E-R-Y picky.
Most of the time that hour is spent either reading or watching a television show I really like (and always multitasking something I can do while sitting for a bit – folding laundry, filing my nails, etc.). That is, it WAS spent watching television until I heard most of my favorite shows are being canceled. It looks like I’ll be doing a LOT more reading from now on. And the yoga mat in the corner is eyeing me again…
Mind you, I’m not naïve. I know that television is all about ratings and advertising dollars. I know that Madison Avenue (purported center of advertising in the United States, if not the world) caters to the segment of our population who has the most available pocket change to spend on the tripe garbage stuff they sell in those ads. Makes sense, right? Well, it would except that they think 18-35 year old males are that demographic – the one with the most available “free” money.
What does that mean to you and me? They couldn’t give a rats ass about what women like to watch. The only reason there are shows on television for women is if those shows are also something men in the target demographic will also watch, either because they like them or because they want to get in the pants of the women who like them.
Case in point…
Canceled and it PISSES ME OFF
- Battlestar Galactica (SCI)
Ended after four seasons. I loved this show, but maybe I could see how it was getting a little tired. They didn’t keep the writing fresh and it’s going down a bit of a weird path with all the religious overtones this season. But damn, this is an INTERESTING season and I’m going to be sorry to see this gritty, compelling show go. - Blood Ties (LIF)
Ended after one season. The hero was too effeminate for me, but I liked the premise and the fact it’s based on some good books. Problem is they moved the bloody thing around so much, forcing long breaks between episodes – all this after it got hidden on Lifetime to begin with – that I could never find it. So I stopped looking. - Drawn Together (COM)
Ended after three seasons. Okay. I know this doesn’t fit my argument, but it cracked my shit up whenever I watched it, so I had to include it in the “damn I’m disappointed… AGAIN” category. - Extras (HBO)
Ended after two seasons. I loved this show. It was wry and painfully funny. But not “Guy TV.” - Men In Trees (ABC)
Ended after two seasons. Dammit! Anne Heche might be a couple of FruitLoops short of a full bowl, but I loved this show! I want to have James Tupper’s babies! I thought the groom getting hit by lightning was hilarious! I want to jump the bones of the Kidney Guy (Scott Elrod or “Cash”) so bad my teeth hurt! I loved watching the online streamed (I think they call it “torrents”) episodes. But it’s not “Guy TV.” 
Moonlight (CBS)
Ended after one season. The hero was anemic (heh) and the writing sucked (double heh), but it was fun to watch for the kitschy quality. But, say it with me, not “Guy TV.”- New Amsterdam (FOX)
Ended after one season. CRAP! I LOVED this show! The hero is a hunk and a half and the story is downright GOOD. A man cursed to be immortal until he finds his one true love, then when he does he loses her and can’t find her again, so he searches and searches? C’mon! What’s not to like??!! But it’s “Chick TV” and we apparently don’t have the loose change towastespend on all the tampons, paper towels, and diapers they’re selling us (yes, that was sarcasm).
WTF are they THINKING?!
Here’s a short list of the shows they have kept, or are starting, that baffle the absolute shit out of me. At least, baffled until I remembered the demographic rule (18-35 yo males):
- Boston Legal (ABC), Chuck (NBC), and My Name is Earl (NBC)
Shows that bore me and I can’t figure out the allure. - Wife Swap (ABC) & Supernanny (ABC)
I imagine reality shows are difficult to cancel – they’re cheap to produce and there’s a compelling “train wreck” quality to them, But I still hate these two and they’re KEEPING them. They must they pick the weirdest families in the US to swap women and who here doesn’t want to just spank the kids, and then spank the parents! - According to Jim (ABC) (I KNOW! still on the schedule!), Three and a Half Men (CBS), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), or Big Bang Theory (CBS).
Any 30-minute comedy show that isn’t Scrubs. They make me yawn. - Knight Rider (NBC)
Makes me just roll my eyes and say, “Boys and their toys.” - Ghost Whisperer (CBS) and Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Don’t take my Chick Club card away for hating these two. I think they’re keeping GW for Hewitt’s tits. I haven’t a clue what the hell is keeping the sentimental tripe that is Bros & Sis’s on the schedule. - NUMB3RS (CBS), Cold Case (CBS), and Without A Trace (CBS)
Cop shows that are lingering long after they’ve jumped my shark.
Couldn’t end soon enough for me
- Bionic Woman (NBC)
Ended after one season. Crappy heroine, but cool show. - Cane (CBS)
Ended after one season. Boring. - Viva Laughlin (CBS)
Ended after two episodes. Silly. - Journeyman (NBC)
Ended after thirteen episodes. Crappy hero, interesting premise. - Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (ABC)
Ended after one season. WTF? Can you say “stretched beyond all proportion”? - The Dead Zone (USA)
Ended after six seasons. Yawn. - Cashmere Mafia (ABC)
Ended after one season. Silly and pretentious. - Cavemen (ABC)
Ended after six episodes. You really have to ask?
What about you? What dismays you about the slow draining away of anything intellectual or interesting on American television? What are you looking forward to coming back? What will you not watch, no matter how much they shove it down your throat?
Well, crap. I like Moonlight. I like the fact that he’s not all alpha and broody all the time. And I like New Amsterdam. These execs don’t give shows enough time to build an audience.
You should really try How I Met Your Mother (especially since Sarah Chalke from Scrubs has been guest starring). It’s sooo funny! I also really enjoy My Name Is Earl.
I also love Gossip Girl, Chuck, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy … can you tell I watch way too much TV? 😉
I figured that anything cool like New Amsterdam, Moonlight, and Blood Ties would get cancelled (since I would like them, it has become quite the trend, i.e. Vengenance Unlimited, Daria, Maximum Bob, and others too many to name). That was one reason why I didn’t start watching them (other two reasons are my two lovely children-not enough time in the world for everything). Luckily the following for Ugly Betty and Supernatural is too strong so I don’t have to worry about them getting cancelled. Very upset though that the season is ending so soon after the looooooong dry spell of the writer’s strike.
The only show in the three lists here I sort of watched was New Amsterdam, but I found myself very reluctant to watch it if I had anything else Tivo-ed. It got boring – mostly because the romance was unbelievable – cheesy and no chemistry. There was nothing else as a thread to keep watching from one episode to the next, but you had to watch it in order because of the romance. Semi-relieved it’s cancelled.
FWIW Gwen the creators of BSG were the ones who wanted to end it this season (I thought this was the fifth season but I could be wrong).
I loved New Amsterdam and Journeyman…and FWIW (which might not be much)I just read a thing on Hollywood Reporter about CBS going after the female demographic.
I have my guilty pleasures like Gossip Girls but for the most part all the police procedurals and stuff aimed at the 18-35 male I just gobble up–I hate comedies though i love dramedies like Ugly Betty.
Eli Stone will be back WOOT! And some of my other faves so I”m irked but not terribly torn up. With as much writing as I’d like to get done for the rest of the year, bad TV isn’t exactly a bad thing 🙂
The sad thing is X-Files would soooooooooo not make it today. The show would be canceled after the first season.
And LOOK at what we would miss.
WE: the philes, the sometime viewers, the actors, the writers, FOX… EVERYONE
good god you gots to give a show a chance before you cancel it… sez me
Totally, Sybil.
Usually if I like a show it’s canceled. I shouldn’t say this next thing BUT my three favorite shows are still on: NCIS (CBS) I love this show. The characters relationships overshadow the mystery they are solving and I love that. Monk (USA) What can I say? I love that obsessive-compulsive detective. I didn’t like the old assistant. I like “Natalie” much better. and Psych (USA) Has anyone watched this show? It is HILARIOUS. I laugh my butt off the whole hour. This is a show that is not meant to be taken seriously.
Oh,crap . . . I loved MOONLIGHT.
I live in the UK and Extras was not canceled, they are just done making it by the decision of the creators, which is very common here. They did the same thing with the original Office.
My favorite UK series right now is Gavin and Stacy (a huge hit here) which has had 2 series (equivalent to seasons)of 6 episodes each and now the writers are saying they might not do a third. Which is a shame because I love it, but if they don’t feel they have the idea of the focus of the third series then better not to make it. The fact that a series can be short and not necessarily endless is I think why bigger name British actors will do a television show. Stephen Fry has one, Judi Dench did one for ages and the time commitment is just not as great.
Oh and I love My name is Earl and Scrubs, both of which they show here on regular tv. In fact Scrubs is on all the time. Although Seinfeld was never a hit here. It is interesting the way they choose to program things.
I hear ya. I watch all of ONE hour of television these days: Battlestar Galactica. Most shows on television aren’t worth taking the time out of my schedule. And they never keep the good ones long enough anyway- chances are that if I enjoy a show, it’s gonna be canceled in a season or two(Firefly, Veronica Mars, BG, etc.)
I was SO pissed that they canceled New Amsterdam!! I love the story line and they just left us hanging..FOX SUCKS!!
As for me, I catch most of the major medical dramas for some reason although I can’t stand blood: ER, House, and Grey’s Anatomy. LOVE Lost also. And I’ll break the mold here and say I really like Two and a Half Men. It’s so hilarious I can’t help but laugh. Other than that, I agree with you on Supernanny and Wife Swap, you just want to smack em all! Yeah, let my kid hit me with his toys because he’s mad and he’ll see what he gets…and it won’t be, “Please stop Timmy”.
I only watch two reality shows: Survivor and American Idol (I used to be a lot worse)
In the UK, we often get the series a while after it debuts in the US, much as you get our “Dr. Who” and “MI5” (called “Spooks” over here). We do have the (expensive, we all pay our licence fee) BBC, which is not funded by advertisers, but I would fight to the death to keep it, because although it does have to watch the ratings, it has enough wriggle room to give a series a chance. Sometimes too many chances, like the new “Robin Hood” which I detest (how many cardigans does Maid Marion own?)
So half way through watching a US series, we get the news that the series is cancelled, and then we kinda lose interest. This habit of cutting series is really going to make selling US series abroad a tricky thing. They’re going to have to be cheap because this cancelling thing is getting old.
I love CSI. Well written, each ‘version’ has its own identity and the characters don’t overwhelm the action. I dislike “Grey’s Anatomy” because I don’t care enough about the characters. Loved “ER” in its early days, when it was well acted (and George was in it) and fast moving (and George was in it). Now – meh. I left when Carter did.
“Moonlight” I enjoyed, in all its cheesy goodness but the special effects were a tad underwhelming. While vampire romance is going gangbusters in novel form, I don’t think the TV execs have quite got to grips with it yet. I read and write it because there are new conflicts to deal with and new problems. So the vampire-as-private-dick doesn’t do it. Vampire as playboy dilettante who has a different outlook on like and doesn’t give a rats’ ass what people think, maybe. They haven’t got the right concept yet.
But I don’t think I’ll be watching any new series until they’ve renewed it for a second season.
And “Boston Legal”? I love it. Shatner is always at his best when he has a partner to bounce off – Kirk and Spock, Crane and Shore.
And it has James Spader in it. Delicious and odd (I love odd!)
Speaking of CSI – did anyone else catch last night’s episode?
OH MY GAWD!!! I did NOT see that coming!!
New village idiots? They’ve ALWAYS been idiots. They cancelled Freaks and Geeks and gave Charmed another run – thank God that show’s over now. Bleck.
Do you actually know anyone who watches According to Jim? I don’t.
This is what I actively watch: The Office, Project Runway, America’s Next Top Model and Ghost Hunters. After last night, I’m shit out of luck.
I hate what they do to us! They get us hooked on a show and then pull it. The last straw for me was losing Blood Ties. Oh, I still watch Lost and will continue to do so until it’s off the air – but I will never get emotionally involved with a show again.
Once Dancing with the Stars is over – that’s it – one hour of network TV a week.
I’ll save the rest of my television passion for DVD’s
The best shows are being canceled and it sucks. Thank god for Supernatural! I can’t wait for Joss Whedon’s new one, but I’m worried it won’t last.
And books kristie think of all those books in your library that rocks! They need lurve.
I gave up on tv after X-Files. I so thought it needed to go off the air (should have the year before it did) but I didn’t want to get that involved again.
::looks around::
le sigh OCD thy name is sybil